14 things to do if you are laid off from a tech job

		October 25, 2008

	14 things to do if you are laid off from a tech job I saw a great piece of advice in a recent story on U.S. News & World Report called "10 things to do the day after you're laid off": "Write a thank-you note to your former boss." I like that. It can't hurt, and if your boss hears of openings elsewhere, you're now that much more likely to get the referral. Geeks and other tech employees are a little different from the vanilla workforce, though, so I wanted to put together a list of specific things that people in our part of the economy might want to consider if they're let go. Here's the rundown...  Sad: The layoff scorecard  Happy: Who's hiring! Rafe Needleman Editor, Webware.com New on Webware.com Comcast launches faster Internet plans, but usage cap remains Posted by Josh Lowensohn Comcast has announced two new tiers of service for heavy residential downloaders, along with speed upgrades for subscribers of its existing services. The two new plans, dubbed "Extreme" and "Ultra" clock in at 50Mbps and 22Mbps of downstream, respectively. You're still capped to 250GB a month, though.  Read more  How to have 3 default browsers at once Posted by Josh Lowensohn A system plug-in called Choosy is trying to change the way people are opening links on their computer. This small Mac OS X application gives you the option to choose which browser you'd like to open up any link with sans having to ever set a "default" browser.  Read more  Six social secretaries for Twitter Posted by Rafe Needleman Maintaining healthy Twitter relationships takes a bit of work. In polite Twitter society, it is important that you spend the time performing upkeep on your social register of those you are following, since there are many people who may take offense if they follow you, and you do not follow them back. Here are a few tools that help you keep your social Twitter register up to snuff.  Read more  Uncool: Oregon Trail Facebook app to be replaced with dating service Posted by Josh Lowensohn SpeedDate.com, the purveyor of the Web video-based online dating service, has snatched up the rights to the Oregon Trail Facebook application, which will soon be replaced with the service's existing speed-dating application.That's right--instead of trying to cross 15-foot wide rivers and avoid dysentery, you'll be looking for love with your Webcam.  Read more  Gmail gets emoticons :-) Posted by Don Reisinger Emoticons have been available on Google Chat for quite some time, but this is the first time they've made an appearance on Gmail. Besides obvious gestures like smiling or winking, the new emoticons will enable users to input images of hugs and kisses instead of "XOXO" and pictures of drinks, cake, or exclamation points to help them get their points across better.  Read more  More new GMail tricks Google launches Gmail for Mobile 2.0 Posted by Don Reisinger Second version of Google's e-mail application for handsets addresses some of the issues found in the first, and provides a more reliable experience.  Read more  Gmail gets auto-replies Posted by Rafe Needleman Here's a useful new feature if you deal with a lot of the same messages.  Read more    Related Newsletters Stay informed on the tech topics that matter to you most CNET offers a wide variety of newsletters on everything from tech industry news to the latest games and gear. Browse the entire list now. Manage newsletters More Webware  Webware RSS feed  The Webware 100  About Webware.com Sponsored Links
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